Alex Saks (photograph: Alyssa Armstrong) If you’re a TikTok-using movie producer, then the feed of Alex Saks has undoubtedly been delivered straight to your telephone by that platform’s ruthless and unerring algorithm. Over the previous year-and-a-half, and throughout practically 200 clips, Saks, a former ICM financing agent and extra lately a producer of such movies as The Florida Project, Thoroughbreds, and Sometimes I Think About Dying, has been shelling out on the platform pithy, direct items of recommendation on matters similar to securing e book rights, defining the position of the road producer, imposter syndrome and the state of the business. There’s the occasional sew or commentary over a commerce article or poster, however most of Saks’s TikToks are simply her, direct-to-camera from her automobile, house, or, sometimes, workplace. In truth, it was from the manufacturing workplace of her newest image — out right now from Sony Pictures, Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us, starring Blake Lively and based mostly on Colleen Hoover’s best-selling e book — that she posted her first video, which featured her and two canine in a spirited second of canine playtime. Fortunately for aspiring younger movie staff, she shortly pivoted away from such evergreen pet content material to develop the straight-talking pedagogical voice that makes her feed a must-subscribe. I chatted with Saks lately to study why she began the channel however, extra importantly, her producing observe, the state of the business and the challenges of manufacturing a movie based mostly on such common supply materials as It Ends With Us.
Filmmaker: I’ve truly come throughout your TikTookay and watched a bunch of them —
Saks: Oh! People carry them up, and even if I do them very coherently and with full consciousness, I form of overlook that then my head is on the web. You know, I got here to [TikTok] late. I’m not somebody who’s been speaking on social media for years and years. I’m glad when individuals say they like them, however I get freaked out momentarily. And then, I simply form of must put that [uncomfortableness] away to return to doing them.
Filmmaker: The impartial movie house has at all times had a specific amount of instructional grift — individuals proselytizing about learn how to make a movie with out acknowledging how troublesome the market is. Sometimes I get a creepy feeling watching or studying these, however I by no means get that with yours. They don’t come off as self-promotional.
Saks: Thank you. I opened TikTookay once we had been capturing No Hard Feelings, and I had COVID. I wasn’t that sick, and I used to be bored and couldn’t depart the residence. It was a bit earlier than the strike began that I began posting, but it surely was actually final summer time, through the strikes [when it took off]. I went to a gathering at [Management] 360 and one of many managers requested me, “Hey, is it okay that [an assistant join the meeting]? She watches your videos.” Assistants by no means ask to affix conferences, so we stated sure. I left the assembly and all these assistants then got here as much as me. It was such a scary time, through the strikes, and it felt good to be giving again, serving to to make individuals really feel higher and to provide them recommendation. So I stored making them as a result of individuals favored them, after which, you understand, that makes me really feel good too.
Before I received into the enterprise, there was no actual info out on this planet in regards to the interior workings of the business facet of the enterprise. You can watch interviews with filmmakers on YouTube and get a really feel for manufacturing or learn how to make issues. But the business? I bear in mind once I received into the enterprise, I didn’t actually know what a growth govt was. I didn’t know the language. I went to highschool in North Carolina — Wake Forest. I didn’t have an leisure internship till after I graduated from school as a result of I needed to work within the summers. [After graduation] I used to be an unpaid intern on the Mark Gordon Company. I utilized chilly off the UTA job listing. That was my first job in Hollywood, and I didn’t receives a commission. But that changed into my first job as Mark’s assistant.
Filmmaker: And to leap ahead to right now, how do you describe your producing observe?
Saks: As considered one of nice perseverance and a big humorousness. When I get discouraged, which is quite a bit lately, I’m going again to each the movies that I’ve made and the movies I need to make as as the one driving power, actually. I’ve gotten to make some some films which have turned out fairly effectively. I’m actually happy with that, and so I attempt to harness that feeling after which go work with a filmmaker I’ve already labored with, or who desires to be supported, and see what we are able to do collectively.
Filmmaker: How huge is your growth slate?
Saks: It’s not that huge — anyplace from seven to fifteen tasks at any given time, which sounds huge, however, you understand, most huge producers have perhaps 40 to 80 tasks. For me, virtually the entire films I’ve endeavored to make I’ve gotten made, which is a really uncommon batting common. I believe it’s as a result of once I take one thing on, I actually make it that there are not any choices aside from getting it made. If I don’t get the flicks made, then I don’t eat.
Filmmaker: How a lot energetic growth do you, and the way do you fund your growth?
Saks: Most of my growth is dependent upon the wants of the author, however I develop quite a bit with writers on spec, and that retains it simple. But I additionally perceive that not everybody can afford to spec a screenplay. And then I additionally do an honest quantity of pitching to studios or financiers.
Filmmaker: What are a few of the structural impediments for impartial producers proper now? What form of calculus goes on relating to excited about the present panorama and the way a venture can match into that?
Saks: It’s undoubtedly modified. I’m growing much less “typical independent movies,” and once I say that, I don’t essentially imply independently-financed [movies]. I imply [movies that are] much less business in nature. To tackle a small drama proper now would require being so in love with it that I can’t cease excited about it. That’s a fairly excessive bar creatively, but it surely occurs, for positive. It simply occurs much less, principally as a result of I can’t afford to have a slate of solely these films as perhaps I as soon as did. So, for me it’s taking a look at materials that’s simply objectively extra business — whether or not the thought is greater, or it’s a style that’s inherently extra business, or it’s partnering with a filmmaker who works extra commercially, or a [name] actor or actress who works extra commercially [can be attached]. The packaging facet of it has at all times fed into all the pieces I do.
Up till a few years in the past, I used to be far more… I don’t need to say careless, however once I learn a script that scared me, that had scary prospects of getting made, I doubtless jumped in. And now I’ve to cease and give it some thought. And if I can’t cease excited about it, to my very own chagrin, I in all probability take it on. And, you understand, that movie in all probability feeds my soul in a approach that another films don’t. But I don’t tackle a lot that I can’t give each filmmaker and author and venture the time they deserve and wish.
Filmmaker: You’ve made a whole lot of movies with purely impartial financing, and now you’re making studio movies. Tell me in regards to the steadiness of getting each these kinds of tasks in your slate. Do you begin off considering which you can get a studio to do a movie after which drop right down to impartial financing? Or do you continue to tackle movies understanding that they will solely be made should you discover an outdoor financier?
Saks: It’s each. If I learn The Florida Project right now, I’d know that it wasn’t going to be a studio film. But I used to be a finance agent, and the financing again finish of films is absolutely attention-grabbing and enjoyable. Sometimes, when you might have a business concept, and if in case you have a filmmaker who’s prepared, it may be enjoyable to construction [the financing] independently after which companion with a studio as a result of the upside generally is a lot better. If the fabric is as distinctive as you as you suppose, a whole lot of studios would need to purchase into it, and then you definately get to retain the management. I nonetheless like to do this, however I additionally suppose there are a whole lot of filmmakers who aren’t considering that. But I’ll say that as a result of the fabric that I’m gravitating in direction of is inherently extra business in nature, I’m speaking extra day-to-day with studios than I’m with impartial financiers for the time being. That might change in a few years, and I believe that’ll be form of just like the song-and-dance of my complete profession. There might be instances, I hope, when the impartial enterprise is prospering and instances when it isn’t. But if I do know one thing goes to must be costly and that main studios [won’t] purchase it, then I’m in all probability not going to take it on as a result of it’s simply too unimaginable. If it’s an R-rated area of interest drama, then that’s going to push me to say no as a result of I’ll don’t know how I might presumably get it made.
Filmmaker: When you tackle a movie, do you might have a fairly clear sense of the funds it must have in an effort to succeed?
Saks: I do.
Filmmaker: Do you might have movies that begin at $10 million after which perhaps you may need to make them for $2 million?
Saks: Yeah, I do. I’ll say that there are some films I tackle understanding we’d by no means be capable to make them [for a lower budget]. During the primary half of my brief up till this level producing profession, I deliberately wouldn’t tackle greater movies as a result of I used to be so captivated with getting all the flicks made. If I couldn’t reverse engineer a worst-case situation, I didn’t need to fail for the filmmakers, truthfully. The first one [outside that range] I took on was Tony Tost’s movie Americana, which premiered at SXSW [in 2022]. It’s a neo-western crime thriller and the primary script I learn the place I assumed, “This is going to be so hard. I can’t make this for under $5 million, so if I fail, then it’s going to be really sad.” Luckily, we received it made.
Filmmaker: When you begin a venture, do you do a extra beneficiant funds in addition to a bare-bones one? Do you begin with one funds or a number of ones so you may work your approach down?
Saks: When one thing generally is a greater funds, I’ll have [the budget] completed after I’ve connected expertise. Once we’re near having the complete bundle collectively, I’ll often do the one-line myself, or my govt will do it. And then with an accountant or line producer we’ll construct a reasonable funds that we are able to scale up. We’ve completed so many low-budget movies, from $1 million [up to] $5 million, and people films form of look the identical. You have a naked bones crew, after which there are additions, like one stunt sequence, or a particular results sequence, so that you add these items. So I don’t have two budgets completed on the identical time, however I can shortly pivot to considered one of my decrease funds templates. And that’s actually useful, particularly with how stuff is coming collectively — or not coming collectively — lately on the indie facet. I’ll be on the telephone one morning with somebody who desires to make the film for $3 million, however that’s a shaky individual and I don’t know if it’ll work out. And then the following day I’m on the telephone with somebody who desires to do it for $1.5. So I want three totally different budgets and three totally different schedules. I perceive why it turns into unimaginable for individuals to drag these things off as a result of you need to be attempting to make all these totally different variations work for various individuals within the hope that considered one of them says sure whereas maintaining momentum in actual time.
Filmmaker: As a former finance agent, what are a few of the broad tendencies available in the market you’re seeing now?
Saks: Since I’ve been within the enterprise for 15 years, I believe that is objectively the worst I’ve ever seen it. More and extra movies which can be even promoting are promoting for $0 advances. I believe dramas are close to unimaginable, even when you might have huge expertise connected, and I’m speaking not even a primary time filmmaker however a second or third time Sundance filmmaker. It is difficult in a approach that I’ve by no means seen it earlier than. Now I firmly imagine there’s at all times new cash being infused into the impartial house. So I believe getting these films made is feasible — it’s simply what number of years are you prepared to place in, and can you get a staff across the filmmaker to make the movie effectively?
But I’m optimistic by nature. I don’t suppose we’ll going again to the robustness of perhaps 10 years in the past, however I’m hoping that we gained’t be on this actually form of darkish time as we’re in with so little sturdy impartial distribution. That’s my hope — that we stabilize in a 12 months or two. I imply, individuals must hold going again to the flicks, I believe it’s a mix of that and the conversations about mergers and whether or not corporations promote or don’t promote settling down. I believe we’re getting near that now.
Filmmaker: Even although we’re on the opposite facet now of “peak TV,” which has had the impact of impacting actor availability for impartial movies, attaching solid remains to be a problem for a lot of independents. Tell me about the way you deal with the necessity for solid attachments.
Saks: I believe that nobody — even big studio producers and massive administrators — will escape expertise attachments falling off or coming again on. It’s simply the character of what we do. People fall in love with a venture after which can fall out of affection with it, or one thing else comes up. But to your level, as a result of there’s much less getting made, there are extra individuals out there. But what it additionally means is that there are much less high-paying jobs, and individuals who may need been extra open to studying an indie [script] and carving time [of their schedule] are having to be a bit extra cautious in doing so as a result of they don’t need to miss a paycheck coming across the nook. But, transparently, I haven’t observed an enormous change. I believe that nice materials is at all times going to get reads and curiosity it doesn’t matter what the funds is, and a few of my smallest tasks have been the simplest to solid once I was paying actors scale.
Filmmaker: Let’s speak about your new movie, It Ends with Us, based mostly on Colleen Hoover’s novel. What had been a few of the growth challenges and artistic questions confronted when adapting a e book with such a big fan base?
Saks: Justin [Baldoni] and I met on a normal in April, 2019, and he despatched me the e book after that assembly, proper across the time he was first securing [the rights]. I learn it instantly and actually responded to it, however he truly didn’t carry on a producer for a few years. I got here onto the venture when he began having conversations with Sony. I used to be ending No Hard Feelings on the time, and it was an excellent expertise. I do know the most important problem that Justin, [screenwriter] Christy Hall and and Colleen Hoover confronted was honoring the unique textual content of a e book that had been so outrageously common and had such a fan base of people that felt so deeply linked to the fabric. Doing proper by the viewers that beloved the e book was continuously being mentioned, and there have been even readings with followers of an early draft of the script. And that stretched into, truthfully, all inventive facets of creating the movie. There was a dialog about what we as filmmakers consider the story that we’re telling but additionally what the followers are going to consider it. I’ve by no means been a part of a venture the place [the fan’s voice] was so current the entire time. And it’s been confidence-inspiring and heartwarming to see them react so positively.
Filmmaker: A primary-time director, or perhaps somebody simply new to you, walks in your door. What are the optimistic issues that individual can do to construct a relationship with you, and what are the pink flags that will make you say, “I don’t want to be in a two- or three-year creative and business relationship with this person?”
Saks: I’m going to provide you a two-part reply, which the second a part of your query led me to, which is that typically I believe saying “no” has much less to do with [a filmmaker’s] expertise and talent to make an excellent movie than it does with, identical to whenever you go on a date, not clicking with somebody. The actuality is, particularly for a first-time filmmaker, the producer has received to be your companion for a few years, at the least. So I’m going to must need to get up each morning and name this individual. If the vibe isn’t, “I love this person,” it’s onerous to say sure.
And the recommendation I’d give — you do need to be your self. You would possibly need to get a sure producer, however should you’re not exhibiting who you actually are as a collaborator, it’s going to be robust. I discover the extra I do that that filmmaking is about alchemy. Not simply alchemy between a producer and a director however between the actors and the crew and, actually, all people.
The different factor is to return in ready. Have a really clear concept of the way you need to make the film and why you need to make the film. Speak with authority and confidence but additionally be open to suggestions. It’s about being very assured however having a wholesome dose of humility and know that the producer goes to be somebody whose solely agenda, I hope, is to information you and assist make one of the best imaginative and prescient of the film that you just got down to make a actuality. When they offer you criticism or suggestions, whether or not it’s in that first assembly or not, take it as you’ll need somebody to take suggestions you had been giving, and know that there’s going to be a partnership and collaboration there. But, going again to the primary half, know that typically it’s simply not a proper match, and that’s okay too.
